Two years ago, China’s first one-time fast food box quality rights protection case ended with the plaintiff Beijing Kaifa Environmental Technology Consulting Center, which caused the whole society to pay great attention to food packaging safety issues. Since then, the State Food and Drug Administration, in conjunction with the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology, the Ministry of Commerce, the State Administration for Industry and Commerce, and the State Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine, issued the "Disposal of Disposable Plastic Meals" on June 12, 2010. "Notice on special rectification work for boxes" and "Announcement on Investigation and Treatment of Illegal Production, Sale and Use of Disposable Plastic Lunch Boxes" requires that the production, sales and use management of disposable plastic lunch boxes be strengthened. At the same time, fast food boxes and paper cups were rated as the top ten hidden products of China's food packaging industry in 2010.
In just one year, many Chinese ministries and commissions issued multiple documents to initiate rectification work. What is the fundamental reason? There are many potential safety hazards in the raw materials, additives, production processes and implementation standards of disposable tableware. The main crux of these problems comes down to four words: supervision is out of control.
Disposable tableware is everywhere, it is difficult to avoid
Potential "killer" on the table
On March 16th, 2011, the International Food Packaging Association announced the results of the survey by the notary public. The test of 17 disposable plastic tableware products purchased at four farmer's wholesale markets in Beijing showed that the production license (QS) was obtained. There are 15 companies in total. It is incredible that out of the seven unqualified companies, there are actually 5 QS signs. In layman's terms, the so-called QS mark refers to the “birth certificate†of the enterprise. It can be seen that the current production of disposable tableware has fallen into a strange circle.
At the press conference at the time, Dong Jinshi, the vice president and secretary general of the International Food Packaging Association, displayed a lunch box that was placed for 2 to 12 hours after being filled with 4% acetic acid solution. The bottom of these lunch boxes became thin and transparent. Paper-like. "These unidentified substances may be industrially-produced calcium carbonate, talc and other toxic and harmful chemicals added by the black-hearted enterprises in the production process." Dong Jinshi further explained that the long-term use of such fast food boxes for acidic foods is equivalent to adding us. "A poisonous dish." And these are just the tip of the iceberg.
Is it safe for a manufacturer of disposable tableware to obtain a production license? Obviously not. "Now, some manufacturers of disposable tableware and the inspection department are 'collaborating' with each other. As long as the company gives the money in place, the test results will definitely pass. Some places even have strange phenomena. Some enterprises beat the drums to meet the testers, and the enterprises set up a banquet. Hospitality, let the testers eat well, the test results are good to say. Lead to a vicious circle in this industry."
To this end, Dong Jinshi told the "China Economic and Trade Focus" reporter that the reasons for this kind of chaos are various, highlighting the gaps in policies and the lack of functions of government regulatory authorities. At the same time, it should also call for the birth of private third-party regulatory agencies to supervise the behavior of government regulatory functions, because this is one of the symbols that symbolize the degree of social civilization.
But for this reason, it is obvious that we still have a long way to go, and it is not a one-off. Jin Peihua, deputy secretary general of the Shanghai Catering Industry Association, said in an interview with the reporter of "China Economic and Trade Focus" that disposable chopsticks and other items are free of charge and do not form a buying and selling relationship with consumers, so the complaint is difficult. In addition, the use of disposable tableware has a certain demand in the Chinese food and beverage market, so it is impossible to withdraw from the historical stage in a short time, perhaps it will take 5 years, 10 years, or even longer. Only then can this transition be completed slowly. Enterprises need responsibility and conscience, but a civilized and developed society must act in accordance with the law and law enforcement must be strict, in order to achieve long-term stability.
He also suggested that because the number of disposable tableware manufacturers is too large, especially the packaging-type disposable tableware enterprises do not have a "birth certificate", let alone supervision and testing, so we should first solve this qualification problem and call on the Chinese People's Congress to legislate. It is reflected in the process. In other words, who is responsible for these production companies? Only by understanding this problem can we talk about some of the things that follow.
Supervision gap for disposable tableware
"Disinfection of disposable packaged tableware is in the health department or industrial and commercial management? In fact, nobody cares." To this end, the reporter interviewed relevant industry insiders in the industrial and commercial sector. According to reports, if there are people complaining about such black workshops, the industrial and commercial departments will definitely check and ban, but most of them are in the form and procedures. After a while, this family workshop changed the place to return to the old industry, so it was difficult to eradicate it.
“The use of food containers, tools and lunch boxes must comply with health standards. These are clearly defined in the law and have strict penalties.†In this regard, Ni Zhengmao, a well-known law expert and a well-known legal expert in Shanghai, said. According to this regulation, if illegal food processing behavior occurs, it must be severely punished, not only for the confiscation of its illegal production tools, the production and sales of the enterprise, but also several times the fine. Since the laws and regulations are in front of the public, why are the illegal acts still going their own way? In fact, the most fundamental problem is: the serious lack of government supervision.
Ni Zhengmao appealed that in daily life, disposable tableware is the most used food and beverage products for the people. For such food and beverage products that are neither environmentally friendly nor harmful to health, the whole people should adopt a boycott attitude. Once there is no market, disposable tableware naturally withdraws from the market and loses its necessity.
Standard aging
In the interview, the reporter found that the production process standards for disposable tableware are not complete, obviously lag and aging. “In the inspection process of disposable tableware or food packaging materials, only the content of organic matter is detected, and the specific organic matter project will not be detected.†Zhang Qinfa, a food packaging expert at South China Agricultural University, said that if there is “铊 in the organic matter content†"That is deadly to the human body." This is enough to show that these testing standards are not sufficiently detailed and user-friendly. Many of the national standards used today are 5 years or even 10 years ago, which is obviously lagging behind.
Disposable tableware consumption in Japan and South Korea
According to reports, the food culture of Japan and South Korea is the closest to China. One of the most prominent features is that it is inseparable from eating chopsticks. Let me talk about Korea first. "China Economic and Trade Focus" reporters have seen on the streets of South Korea that almost all restaurants use stainless steel chopsticks and disinfection cabinets to ensure the safety of customers. “Stainless steel utensils are easy to clean and disinfect, and are very popular with customers.†The owner of a small local food and beverage store said that South Korea is a country that is very environmentally friendly and will never use disposable wooden chopsticks and bamboo chopsticks because it will destroy The surrounding ecological environment is harmful and unprofitable.
According to statistics, Japan's forest coverage rate is as high as 65%, but they cherish the trees on their own land. The disposable chopsticks are basically imported. China's forest coverage rate is less than 17%, but it has become the largest exporter of disposable chopsticks in Japan. A friend who had studied in Japan for many years said that at the beginning, disposable chopsticks on the Japanese market were imported from China, South Africa, Indonesia and Canada. South Korea was also a major exporter of disposable chopsticks in Japan. However, due to factors such as tight timber resources and fierce price competition in various countries, countries such as South Korea have withdrawn from competition.
In addition, it is worth mentioning that in Japan, disposable tableware is processed and disinfected by secondary technology, and then enters the lives of Japanese people. Among them, the disposable wooden lunch boxes are all degradable, and are thrown into a recyclable garbage bin after use, and are processed into a pulp after being uniformly recycled, and are made into non-catering items such as copy paper.
Economic leverage can be used to solve problems
How to improve the efficiency of supervision in the face of so many disposable tableware manufacturers?
Take the production and consumption of disposable bamboo chopsticks as an example. Compared with wood, the cutting cycle of bamboo is short, and the industry entry threshold for bamboo chopsticks manufacturers is low, which leads to low-price competition and creates a vicious circle. This is the root of the problem.
“Economic leverage can be used to solve this problem, such as raising the price of industrial chopsticks, one of the raw materials for disposable chopsticks, and increasing the taxation of some highly polluting enterprises, raising the threshold of the industry and standardizing production standards.†Therefore, Dai Xingyi, a professor at the School of Environmental Science and Engineering at Fudan University, said that the entry barriers for disposable tableware manufacturers are too low and the process is not standardized, resulting in a large number of manufacturers in the industry, micro-enterprise and family workshops. It will increase the cost of government supervision, and the regulatory authorities will not be able to manage it. Therefore, to improve the price and cost of illegal raw materials in the industry, update the process, and use economic leverage to intervene and manage, this is the most clear management tool.
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